With Belcher and Boetsch losing, Bisping has prime position for title shot

Michael Bisping has been making it loud and clear that he believes the next crack at Anderson Silva should belong to him. Obviously, a few breaks had to go his way to make that the case. While seated cageside at UFC 155 in Las Vegas on Saturday night, Bisping watched as a couple of those breaks went his way.

First, he watch Yushin Okami stall out the offensive attack of Alan Belcher to earn a unanimous decision to go 2-0 against “The Talent.” Then, the rolling Tim Boetsch had his train derailed by Costa Philippou after Philippou replaced injured Chris Weidman. Both fights were upset but Bisping certainly wasn’t upset by what transpired. At the post fight press conference, Dana White confirmed that Bisping is now in the drivers seat for a middleweight title shot. All he has to do now is get past Vitor Belfort at UFC on FX 7 next month.

“It’s funny, because yesterday at the weigh-ins, Belcher came up to me and said, ‘I’m going to win this fight tomorrow night, and when Vitor Belfort gets hurt, because you know he will, I’m going to step in and I want that fight with Bisping,’” White said. “But yeah. If Bisping wins that fight, he’ll get the next shot.”

Surely, that was music to Bisping’s ears. He’s struggled mightily to get White to agree that he’s ready for a title shot. Despite winning five of his last six fights, Bisping has had to stand in line behind Chris Weidman, Belcher and Boetsch. Now with both Belcher and Boetsch losing, couple with Weidman having the tough break of being sidelined, all he needs is to beat Vitor Belfort.

Certainly no easy task.

http://lowkickmma.com/members/Dropkickmurphy/ dropkickmurphy

Bisping will get starched.

http://lowkickmma.com/members/UnderdogGreatness/ UnderdogGreatness

Dana, will you please give Bisping his title shot already along with his death certificate?

The death Certificate part was a joke, guys.

http://lowkickmma.com/members/Brian-Cox/ Brian Cox

Yeah, the landscape @ 185 changed dramatically, last night. With losses by both Belcher and Boetsch, Weidman on the side-lines and Lombard (at least) two fights away from a shot, Bisping is sitting pretty for a title shot, if he can muscle past Belfort. I personally don't think he will do it, but if he can, he's finally arrived. Give him the shot.

What I don't understand, particularly given the sad state of affairs in the division, is how Belfort won't get a shot, should he win. If he beats Bisping, who else is out there? Sure, he's coming off of a loss to the 205 Champ, but he was doing the organization a favor and it happens to be the exact same scenario that's playing out (right now) between Jones / Sonnen. Sonnen is coming off of a loss to a champion. So, is Belfort. Sonnen had two fights with Silva, why not Vitor?

It just seems that, with the exception of Bisping now, everyone else in the division seems to be one more fight away from title shot. I thought Weidman had earned when he beat Munoz. Apparently he didn't. I would have thought Belcher had earned it after he had beat Palhares. He obviously didn't and now he's back down the 185 ladder. Boetsch is now off the table. Two fighters who could have fought Anderson, now cannot and we have to wait around for Weidman to get healthy, before he can challenge and even the, DW will probably tell us that he's still one fight away. It's as if Dana wants the division to eat itself without ever producing a series or legitimate contenders for Silva, with the possible exception of Bisping. Having fighters constantly reprove their worth is a recipe for disaster. I fear we might witness the same thing in March, should Hendricks lose to Elenberger, a fight, which, in my opinion, should not happen and for the reasons I've just stated. Hendricks has earned his shot. Why risk wasting him Elenberger @ UFC 158, when he could fight GSP (or Diaz) in June or July?

Divisions need challengers and once those fighters have achieve that level, they need to be used / spent on the divisional champions. Not on divisional rivals.

If Bisping and Hendricks lose, what then Dana? When will we see Anderson in The Octagon, again and who will GSP fight next?

http://lowkickmma.com/members/Grapplure/ grapplure

gsp sucks

http://lowkickmma.com/members/Brian-Cox/ Brian Cox

What's new with you on that subject?

http://lowkickmma.com/members/Azzkika/ azzkika

GSP has a far better resume than your idol Silva. Condit at his best versus a retired Bonnar. Get a life you spamming wanker.

http://lowkickmma.com/members/IChokePeople/ IChokePeople

The division needs challengers but they have to be legitimate. Belcher lost so obviously he wasn't the top guy in the division. Besides, if there isn't a title fight and you sit around not fighting you may miss your shot anyway like Rashad did for a long time.

http://lowkickmma.com/members/Azzkika/ azzkika

DW is happy to have the MW division murky without ~1 challengers. That leaves Silva free to keep fighting bums.

http://lowkickmma.com/members/Cranestyle/ cranestyle

I expected both Boetsch and Belcher to do better. Tim apparently broke his right hand on one of the very first punches he threw, then got head-butted and eye-poked, so his result is understandable.

Belcher was breathing like it was the end of a 5 rounder less than a minute into the first round, so I'm not quite sure what happened there.

Sometimes, the last guy standing is the one who gets the shot. IF Bisping can take out Belfort, I think he should be next in line for the Spider at 185.

Mind you, if Silva doesn't fight until late in 2013, I still think it might be against GSP.

http://lowkickmma.com/members/Brian-Cox/ Brian Cox

@ Crane

Yeah, I expect a lot more out of Belcher, too. He was right on the doorstep of a shot and now he's two flights down. He seemed to have no answer for Okami last night, not that I thought Okami's performance was that great. It was okay, but I didn't see any real growth in his game.

Too bad for Boetsch.

http://lowkickmma.com/members/GianGiacommo-G/ GianGiacommo G

Okami should be ashamed of himself! clearly didn't no want to stand and choose to play the Jon Fitch game,shame on Yushin!

http://lowkickmma.com/members/KeithFarrell/ KeithFarrell

Was very disappointed in Belcher, I honestly believed he was one of the best guys at MW and would stop Okami but I guess that was a combination of me overestimating Belcher and the community forgetting how good Okami is.

That Palhares win made Belcher look so damn good but I guess Palhares himself is overrated – subbing low tier guys and getting smoked by upper level fighters.
Unfortunately, I don't know if Belcher has another title run in him, especially with how dominating his loss was.
Hopefully I'm wrong and Alan does the right things to come back in a big way!

Boetsch is a great fighter but struggles against the elite, he wasn't going against the elite of the elite but the countless things that went wrong for him was too much, he'll be back doing more good things.

Okami is back to him normal self, controlling opponents and making them look bad without doing much damage himself.

Philippou may have got lucky with what happened to Boetsch but I believe the guy can go far, great TDD with brilliant boxing and power, like to see him against Okami now.

http://lowkickmma.com/members/TwA/ TwA

Bisping will deserve it with a win over vitor i'm just curious how soon it will be before we see lombard now that he has got rid of his jitters

http://lowkickmma.com/members/Enjoylife321/ enjoylife321

I don't see Bisping getting past the Phenom….

http://lowkickmma.com/members/Pride4Ever/ Pride4Ever

the Tim Boetsch hype. was just based on the comeback, it was a punchers chance and it went in his favor… tim is good, but he will never have a belt

http://lowkickmma.com/members/Cpt.-Paranoid/ Cpt. Paranoid

Bisping may be a unlikeable person, but if he wins Belfort he should get the shot at the title or the ufc looses the last of it's credibility in not respecting the rankings in their matchmaking. But I wouldn't be surprised if Kurt Angle would join the ufc and get the shot.